Brook, brown, rainbow, 

 and lake trout 



Table 27 contains all available data on the 

 number of trout and other varieties of fish, ex- 

 clusive of the walleye and whitefish, planted in 

 the Red Lakes and their tributaries or produced 

 at the Redby hatchery during the spring of vari- 

 ous years prior to 1938 . According to the report 

 of January 1, 1925 by the Superintendent of the 

 Minnesota State Fisheries, the propagation and 

 planting of all varieties of fry from 1917 to 1924 

 inclusive were carried on at the expense of the 

 State Fisheries, about "90 percent of . . .(whose) 

 earnings have been derived from the Redby 

 operation. ..." 



Over the period 1917-1924, 621,150 brook 

 trout fry were deposited in tributaries of the Red 

 Lakes and 400,000 herring fry were planted in 

 the Red Lakes. In 1927 and 1928 the Redby 

 hatchery produced 104, 940 lake trout fry , of 

 which 43,611 or 42 percent were introduced into 

 the Red Lakes. So far as known, no herring or 

 lake trout were ever taken out of these lakes. 

 During the 1927-1928 biennium approximately 

 15,000 perch fry were produced at the Redby 

 hatchery. During 1927-1938 (3 years missing), 

 this hatchery reared an annual average of 123,000 

 trout fry (brown, brook, and rainbow) which 

 presumably were planted in the streams general- 

 ly within a radius of about 75 miles from the Red 

 Lakes. It may be safely assumed that since 1917 

 the Redby hatchery was largely responsible for 

 the production of an estimated total of 2 million 

 trout fry intended for anglers . 



SUMMARY 



1 . The Red Lakes are situated in Beltrami 

 and Clearwater Counties, Minnesota . All of 

 Lower Red Lake and 49 percent of Upper Red 

 Lake lie within the Red Lake Indian Reservation. 

 Upper Red Lake has an area of 188 square miles 

 and Lower Red Lake an area of 255 square miles. 

 Both are single -basin, comparatively shallow, 

 eutrophic lakes well suited for the production of 

 fish. No limnological survey has been made of 

 the Red LaKes. 



2. An account of the commercial fisheries 

 of the Red Lakes traces the development of the 



industry from its inception in 1917 as a war 

 measure to augment food resources, through the 

 period of State operation from 1919 to 1928, both 

 years inclusive, and the period of cooperative 

 management by the Red Lake Fisheries Associa- 

 tion, Inc., from 1929 through 1938. Essential 

 extracts from Minnesota laws. Federal regula- 

 tions, and other documents are included. 



3 . A list of the commercial and non- 

 commercial fish fauna of the Red Lakes, 

 compiled from publications and new collections, 

 includes 29 species of 25 genera and 14 families. 

 Nineteen species, principally small forage fishes, 

 had not been reported previously. 



4. Statistics of the total catch for 20 

 years (1918 and 1920-1938) were analyzed. An 

 average annual yield of 820,320 pounds of all 

 species was secured with an average value of 

 $49,644. Production in 1927, 1928, 1930, and 

 1933-1936 was below average, and in 1929, 1931, 

 1932, 1937 and 1938 was above average. 



5 . Walleyes, yellow perch, whitefish, 

 goldeye, and northern pike predominated in the total 

 annual production in the order named. The trend 

 of the annual production of walleyes and yellow 

 perch followed the trend of the total catch. White- 

 fish production was below average from 1935 to 

 1938. 



6. Production statistics for Lower and 

 Upper Red Lake were analyzed for 1920-1928. 

 Ninety percent of the catch came from Lower and 

 10 percent from Upper Red Lake. In more re- 

 cent years the yield from the upper lake was 

 reduced considerably. 



7. During 1927-1938, the Indians pro- 

 duced 95 percent of the total catch and white 

 fishermen 5 percent. 



8 . On the average, 78 percent of the 

 annual catch was obtained during the summer 

 fishing seasons of 1930-1938, but 82 percent of 

 the whitefish were caught during the fall season 

 in those years. The summer catches included 

 80 percent of the annual yield of walleyes and 91 

 percent of the yellow perch . 



9. During 1930-1938, an average of 200 



60 



